Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Part II: Bear Referendum - Ch. 30: December Media Coverage

Part II - Bear ReferendumChapter 30 - December Media Coverage

Bear Caravan stops in Salmon Arm

1996-12-02Salmon Arm Shoppers’ Guide

…according to (WCWC volunteer) Jon French… a small percentage of people exhibited very childish behaviour, swearing, and even shouting racial epithets as they passed by. These racial slurs were directed at Anthony Marr, who is Chinese Canadian. He has led the drive to prevent bear hunting…

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Anti-bear hunt backers get cool local reception

1996-12-04The Courier Islander, Campbell River by Dan MacLennan

Supporters of a total ban on bear hunting collected signatures in Campbell River Monday despite some less than friendly responses.

“We got kicked out of the Tyee Plaza around 11:30 even though we had permission,” (WCWC Bear-Care-a-Van member) Steve Quattrocchi said...

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Protesters, hunters clash

1996-12-04The Mirror, Campbell River, BC by Matthew Plumtree

Chilly temperatures (-15C) and a posse of hunters… made life difficult for those seeking signatures… “I was trying to be a dink, but after all these years, it sure feels good,” said (local hunting guide David) Fyfe…

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Bear petition on the hunt for names

1996-12-04The Times, Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows, BCby Corinne Jackson

… There are about 20 people gathering names locally… Mike Gildersleeve said he’s collected about 400 himself… The response has been “really positive”, he added. “People that have seen me come marching up and ask ‘Where can I sign?’”…

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Who cares about bears? Quite a few readers.

1996-12-07The Vancouver Sun by Herb Gilbert

… I hope more people will come to see the big picture of what is happening to planet Earth. And when the light goes on in their minds, they will turn green, like the Paul Georges and Anthony Marrs of this world.

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Bear-hunting petition falls short

1996-12-07The Vancouver Sun by Larry Pynn

… (WCWC founder Paul) George said efforts to collect signatures were hampered on a number of fronts - canvassers were frequently denied permission to operate in rural shopping malls, hunters shadowed canvassers and intimidated citizens who might have otherwise signed…

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Anti-hunting effort falls short

1996-12-07Times Colonist, Victoria, BC by Malcolm Curtis

BC’s referendum law needs to be rewritten, otherwise the public will never have a chance to vote on any initiative… Anthony Marr acknowledges Friday the group’s bid to force a referendum on the hunting issue will fall short… In Washington state, where voters last month approved an initiative to ban hunting of bears using dogs and bait… The Washington referendum system has more relaxed rules…

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Drive for bear-hunting referendum falls short

1996-12-10The Province, Vancouver, BC by Charlie Anderson

Supporters of a ballot on bear hunting are bloody but unbowed… “The law itself is an ass,” said (WCWC founder Paul) George, who favours referendums based on the U.S. model. “No issue, no group could ever get that amount of signatures all sorted by electoral district.”…

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Law "designed to fail"

1996-12-10The Province, Vancouver, BC by Michael Smyth

… Critics then and now have attacked the Recall and Initiative Act as unworkable, phony legislation.

And now we have proof… The group had an emotional issue, apparently broad public support, hundreds of volunteers and one of the environmental movement’s best-organized, well-financed public relations machine at its disposal.

... They gained about half the names they needed, but says they raised the profile of their fight…

The fight to help bears through the tool of law

1996-12-17Positive Action News, Victoria, BCby Nicholas Ford

… Anthony Marr is October’s hero… He has bravely faced up to repeated intimidation from hunters and debates them on lecture tours. He is a man with a vision… (His) activism in BC on bears is based on excellent foresight…

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Bear hunters come under fire

1996-12-18News Leader, Burnaby, BC by Rob Gerein

… The majority of the population doesn’t like guns, doesn’t like trophy hunting and, increasingly, they don’t like hunters…

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Three Chinese-Canadian eco-warriors

1996-12Sing Tao Daily News (Chinese), global

… Anthony Marr’s prime motivation is to ensure a healthy and beautiful world for our children… He plans to go straight into the tigers’ homelands - India, China… to save them where they live…

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Bear Referendum Road Tour '96

1996 - The Western Canada Wilderness Committee

"Anthony Marr is on almost every hunter's hit list for trying to get trophy hunting of Black and Grizzly bears banned in B.C..." Vancouver Sun, August 2, 1996, page B4.

"They are organized and hostile (the hunting lobby), and when they show up, it's ten to one - hunters to environmentalists..." Georgia Straight, August 1-8, 1996, page 7.

"It was barely civil and sometimes downright ugly... Anthony Marr was interrupted, shouted down and generally abused by hunters in an audience of more than 100 that spilled out of a conference room..." Prince George Citizen, July 5, 1996, page A1.

These are just a few of the many highlights in the more than 100 newspaper articles generated during the eight-week-long province-wide road tour by Anthony Marr this summer. The purpose: to educate people about endangered animals especially the BET'R species (Bear, Elephant, Tiger and Rhinos) as well as explain the Initiative to prohibit the sport and trophy hunting of bears in British Columbia to prevent B.C. bears from becoming endangered and imperiled with extinction.

Despite the many stormy meetings, Marr returned to Vancouver in good spirits. One big reason was the great care and support provided by environmentalists along his 12,000 kilometers journey. Marr never had to camp out alone or stay at motels even once. Many of those who billeted him and attended his presentations generously donated funds, food and even long-distance phone calls to the project, as well as took him on hiking, kayaking, 4-wheeling, bear watching and even horseback riding expeditions.

Marr wholeheartedly thanks everyone involved for making this tour a fruitful and enjoyable one and invites everyone he contacted and their friends to actively participate in Initiative I96001 to bring about an end to the sport and trophy hunting of bears in B.C. and greatly increase the penalties for poaching and trafficking.

He also thanks Erica Denison, Bonita Charette and Lisa Moffatt, Bear Referendum campaigners, and the staff at WCWC for their very capable assistance in making this road tour a success. By the end of the campaign, some 1,800 volunteer canvassers had applied to collect signatures on the Bear Protection petition.

About Me

Anthony Marr
* has a degree in physics
* is the author of "OMNI-SCIENCE and the Human Destiny" (2003) and "Homo Sapiens SAVE YOUR EARTH" (2008)
* 1995, he cleaned up N. American Chinatowns of endangered species medicines
* 1996, he led "the highest-profile anti-trophy-hunting campaign in Canada" (Globe and Mail).
* 1997-1999, he worked in 3 tiger reserves in India.
* 1999, he founded Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE).
* 2004/2005, he conducted operations in Japan against whaling and dolphin slaughter.
* 2003-2011, completed 7 Compassion for Animals Road Expeditions (CARE tours, each covering 30-45 states over 4-7 months), and spoke at the National AR Conference every year
* 2009, he founded the Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
* 2010, he won the Henry Spira Grassroots Activist Award.
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/AnthonyMarr001
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.AnthonyMarr13.wordpress.com
www.Dying-for Salvation.blogspot.com